Take Your Sweet Time
by Cylonna
Summary: We have the classic (or not so much) love story. Boy meets girl, boy loves girl, girl goes out with boy's best friend, boy gets jealous, dates girl's best friend to make girl jealous. Girl gets jealous. Girl breaks up with boy's best friend.LESB then LEJP
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Take Your Sweet Time

Lily Evans took a deep breath, another year back at Hogwarts. Another year of school and friends, another year to excel, another year of James's persistent pestering her to go out with him. She watched out the window as the Hogwarts Express moved steadily on through the thick fog.

She thought of her summer, boring and lonely as usual. She was delighted to be on her way to her fifth year at Hogwarts even if it only meant escaping the Muggle world for only what would seem like only a few short months.

She wondered if she'd grown up over the summer. She wondered if the Marauders had grown up as well. She wondered if Hogwarts would be different, changed just as they might be.

Her wondering was interrupted as her compartment door slid open and her best friend Brooke Soletro stepped in. Brooke was still clad in her Muggle clothes, a pair of black low rise jeans and a peasant blouse, as well as a fair amount of jewelry including a large onyx pendant. She had her dark hair pulled back, except for a few messy strands which framed her face and kept her bun looking messy as opposed to uptight like Madame Pince's.

"Hey Lilz!" she said enthusiastically as she sat down next to Lily, "How was your summer?"

In response Lily shot her a look to say 'What do you think?'

"Oh, yeah. I guess being stuck in the Muggle world must suck. But, at least you get all these awesome clothes!" Brooke said gesturing toward her ensemble.

Lily nodded, "Yes! I am SO borrowing that outfit sometime!"

"Well since you bought it for me…" Brooke said, "I guess it's only right."

Their conversation was interrupted when a girl with strawberry blond hair which was pulled back into a messy half bun entered the compartment.

"Hey Jess!" Lily and Brook said in unison.

"Oy! Lily! Brooke! You guys look gorgeous!" Jessica exclaimed, "And here I am, looking like I just walked off the court…Remus will never notice me now…" she added fussing with her knee length shorts and jersey from an American college neither Lily nor Brooke knew.

"How was America?" Lily asked.

"Eh, it was nice to be home. But, I missed you guys. You'll have to visit over the holiday this year. It was nice to be by the beach again, especially with Carlos…" Jess answered.

"Carlos? Ooooooo…do tell," Brooke said, genuinely interested.

"Carlos is just a friend Brooke. We went to grade school together up until I got my letter. Nice guy, he and I went surfing like, everyday," Jessica answered.

Then the girls heard a racket coming from up the hall. Lily leaned out of the compartment door to see who or what was causing the ruckus. She quickly stepped back inside and shut the compartment door rolling her eyes as she did so.

"Here come the Marauders..." Lily sighed.

It wasn't that she minded them as a group; it was more that she minded James, and his constant pestering.

"Does my hair look alright?" Jessica asked.

"Yes Jess, it's fine, if you're going for that sporty girl look," Brooke said.

Jessica sighed as the compartment door opened yet again.

"Hello ladies," Sirius said as he stepped in and took a seat between Lily and Brooke, "Have a good holiday?"

"Yeah," the three girls replied in unison.

Next to step into the compartment were James Potter and Remus Lupin. Lily expected Peter Pettigrew to follow, but he didn't.

"Not that I really…care…but…where's Peter?" Brooke asked.

"Oh, he decided to pick a fight with some Slytherins, and he got hexed something awful. They confined him to the medical carriage," Sirius explained.

"Oh," Brooke replied.

James sat down across from Lily, leaving Remus to sit next to a smiling, and recently giggly, Jessica.

"He-Hello Remus," she said grinning.

"Er, hello Jess," he said, blushing.

"Hello Lily," James said reaching across the aisle to kiss Lily on the hand.

"James, we're barely past half way to Hogwarts and you're already starting to hit on Lily. Won't you just give it a rest for once?" Sirius said.

James blushed and leaned back in his seat.

"Actually, we're almost three fourths of the way there," another girl said as she stuck her head in the compartment, "You guys should go get changed."

Lily, Brooke, and Jessica could have recognized that face and the gorgeous wavy black hair that framed it even if they hadn't wanted to.

"Esmerelda!" they exclaimed in greeting to their old friend.

"Well I'm going to go get changed, this shirt's bugging the heck out of me. The collar itches. I love it, but it drives me bonkers sometimes," Brooke said.

Jessica and many of the others followed suit and left to go change into their school uniforms, except for Sirius, who was, of course, already wearing his. Now he was left alone, with Lily, who had changed for her prefect's meeting earlier.

"Lily?" he said turning to face her.

"Yes Sirius?" she answered.

"Well…Ummm…er, would you- would you fancy going out with me sometime?" he asked.

"You mean like…be your girlfriend?" Lily asked her heart racing.

"Well, erm…yes…" Sirius replied.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Why…why I'd love to!" Lily said, throwing her arms around Sirius.

"Well, James is going to hex me something awful when he finds out, but that's the cost of love isn't it?" Sirius answered.

Before Lily could answer the others burst into the compartment, all clad in their Hogwarts robes now. James saw Sirius with his arms around Lily and near had a heart attack.

"Sirius! What are you doing with your hands on…MY woman?" James asked.

"She's my girlfriend you dimwit. I'm entitled to hold her and make her feel special aren't I, Prongs?" Sirius said.

"What? But…but you know! You know…You bastard…" James said as he stormed out of the compartment, practically knocking Brooke and Jessica over on his way.

"Do you want me to go talk to him?" Lily asked, trying to be helpful.

"No, really. It's okay. I'll go," Remus said, trying to be the voice of reason, "Don't worry. James never stays mad long…"

"Wow," Brooke said as she sat down across from them, "So you finally asked him Lily?"

"What do you mean 'finally asked him'?" Lily said, "I never mentioned to either of you that I wanted to go out with him!"

"One learns things when one finds Lily's diary left lying open in the common room when she's dozed off doing homework…" Jessica said, innocently gazing around as Brooke stifled her giggles.

"You two!" Lily said jumping up to start tickling the two of them fiercely but Sirius cleverly pulled her back onto his lap.

"Lily, I don't see why it's a problem. The only people who know about it are you, me, Brooke and Jessica…" Sirius began.

"And Esmerelda," Jessica said.

"Yeah…it- it was all her idea!" Brooke replied.

"Don't lie Brooke. It was your idea," Jessica said giving her a look that said "WTF!"

"Okay so it was my idea, but those two were in on it!" Brooke said.

"Well anyway Lily, what does it matter? No one else knows, and now that we're going out, it doesn't matter, okay?" he said nuzzling the side of her neck affectionately.

"Hey, you guys might want to cut back on the PDA…here comes Remus and James, it looks like he's finally gotten him calmed down…" Brooke said, looking out the window on the compartment door.

Lily quickly slid off of Sirius' lap, just in time for James and Remus to enter the compartment.

"Go back to sitting on his lap Lily, I don't care. It won't last long, you'll confess your true love for me once you've seen how boring a relationship can be with Padfoot," James said upon reentering the compartment.

Sirius guffawed as Lily scooted back onto his lap.

"Plus it means there's enough room for all of us in the compartment now," Remus said while gesturing towards James and then making a hand signal to show that he wasn't right in the head.

Sirius gave him a look to say that he'd just go with the flow, and that he was just happy Remus had been able to calm him down.

After a few minutes of idle chit chat the train stopped, and there was a loud scuffling noise as everyone was shuffled off the train. There they stood near the lake, watching as it glimmered in the moonlight. Another year back at Hogwarts.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

They all stood there, waiting for a carriage to take them to the castle. Carriages held four each, so naturally you'd think the Marauders would go in one and the girls would take another. But this wasn't how it played out. Lily and Sirius just couldn't bear to be away from each other for a minute.

"Young love," Brooke said rolling her eyes.

So Sirius and Lily got in a carriage and they were soon joined by Jessica and Remus. Sirius and Lily sat there canoodling and whispering sweet nothings in each others ears while Jessica sat there giggling and trying not to act so nervous, and while Remus blushed.

When they arrived at school, they all sat together in the Great Hall for the welcoming feast and the sorting. Once Zeke Zimmerman had been sorted into Hufflepuff Lily led the way back to Gryfinndor common room.

"Password?" asked the portrait of a particularly plump woman in a pink dress.

"Beet blossom," Lily said loudly, so that everyone could hear.

Once all the students had entered the common room, and most had filtered up to their dormitories, Lily entered. She was dog tired as was ready to go to bed, so she gave Sirius a tender good night kiss and went upstairs to her dormitory.

She got into her nightclothes inside her bed curtains and went over to the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth before going to bed. She bid Esmerelda, Jessica, and Brooke goodnight and collapsed on her bed, falling asleep shortly afterward.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Lily woke the next morning to the sun shining through the glass of the dormitory window. Lily always took the bed by the window, so that if she wasn't able to fall asleep at night she could watch the stars, also so she could see the beautiful sunrises in the morning. This morning's was particularly breathtaking. The sky was a bright orange, and swirls of pink and purple scattered it. The sun itself was raised only a sliver above the horizon, only beginning to cast its warmth over the Hogwarts castle.

Lily sighed. She loved sunrises. Unfortunately, though the sun was warm, the dorm was filled with the chilly September air. Lily shivered as she stepped out onto the cold stone floor. She sluggishly stumbled over to the bathroom the four girls shared and slipped into the shower, turning the heat up as high as it would go, enjoying the pleasant stinging sensation it brought to her skin.

When she got out of the shower and dressed in her uniform she wandered down to the common room to greet Sirius. She gave a small peck on the cheek before whispering, "'Morning Siri."

"'Morning love," Sirius said, burying his head in Lily's fragrant hair and wrapping his arms around her in a bear hug, pulling her close. He breathed in deeply. Her hair smelled strongly of the beach, or so the smell reminded him of.

James stood with Remus on the other side of the Common Room, glaring at Sirius. He had everything James wanted. He wanted to be the one holding Lily, smelling her hair, and whispering sweet nothings in her ear. It killed him to see his best friend, with the girl of his dreams. He had to do something about it. But what?

His thoughts were interrupted as Brooke sauntered down the stairs as using a shortening charm one her, what should be, knee length skirt. However, how short she'd shortened it left little to the imagination. She'd also left the first three or so buttons of her blouse unbuttoned, and her robes were only loosely tied. Her sweater, also appeared to have shrunk in the wash, it barely touched the waistband of the skirt.

James suddenly knew just what to do. He just had to get Brooke to agree to it. He'd also have to wait for the right time, when she was alone. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to be this morning as Esmerelda and Jessica quickly trotted down the stairs to join her.

Esmerelda gasped in shock, "Girl, what did you do to your uniform?"

"Well, a shortening charm here and there, and shrinking spell or two…" she began.

"You look great," Esmerelda said.

"'Relda! She looks like a slut!" Jessica proclaimed.

"Okay, maybe leaving that fifth button undone is pushing it a bit…" she considered.

Brooke shrugged, "At least I can get someone's attention," she said noticing James staring at her.

Jessica blushed, she knew Brooke's last comment had to do with her little obsession with Remus, and yet he didn't even notice her. She sighed.

Lily and Sirius eventually parted to stand with their friends, and Lily just about had a heart attack when she saw what Brooke had done to her uniform. She discreetly lengthened it an inch with a lengthening charm when Brooke wasn't paying attention.

"Hey, what've we got this morning?" Esmerelda asked.

Lily looked at her schedule, "Ach, double potions with the Slytherins…"

"What a wonderful way to start off the morning," Jessica grumbled.

"Hey, that Luscius Malfoy's looking pretty good this year. That silky blond hair…mmmm…" Brooke said deviously.

"Ew! Brooke! That's sick, sick, sick, SICK! How could you even think about…with a SLYTHERIN!" Esmerelda shrieked.

"Think about?" Brooke said winking, "More like dream about. Come on, you guys have to admit, he is pretty hot."

"But he hangs out with Snivellus," Sirius said and he snuck up on Lily and pulled her back into his arms.

"Oh, when are you guys just going to leave him alone?" Esmerelda said, "I don't like him much either, but you guys have done some pretty cruel things to him."

"Like that time we tied him up to that tree branch? Remember Padfoot?" James said, reminiscing.

"Oy! And he was like, 'Let me down, let me down!!! I can't hex you up here, let me downnnnnnnn!' and then we dropped him and he fell plumb on his head!" Sirius added chuckling.

Lily rolled her eyes, "Yeah, well if I catch you guys doing it again, I might have to take points from Gryfinndor."

"But Lily, it's our house…" James began.

"It's only fair, James. Not like he's ever done anything to you," Lily said.

"Except jeer," James said.

"And sneer," Sirius added.

"Let's just go, we're going to be late for potions! And you know how mad the professor gets if we're late!" Esmerelda said.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Morning potions with the Slytherins could've been worse, but every one of the Gryffindors eventually got through it. Brooke noticed Luscius staring at her long, toned legs about halfway through class from across the aisle and she winked at him. He had a startled look on his face and he began to blush.

Lily sat between Sirius and James. Sirius had put his arm around her at the beginning of class, without realizing until the professor sent an evil glare in his direction. Sirius blushed and dropped his arm. Brooke sat next to James and Jessica sat next to Remus, giggling the entire time. Lily wondered how it would be possible for her to concentrate. Esmerelda sat next to Jessica, rolling her eyes at her practically the entire period.

After potions, they had Charms, Lily's favorite. Professor Flitwick however was merely reviewing summoning charms, which were way too simple for Lily. Pillows were flying about the room and James and Sirius were having a ball flinging them at Severus Snape's head. Lily rolled her eyes and spent half of the class summoning them back toward herself as soon as James and Sirius sent them flying towards Snape.

Brooke entertained herself by summoning various compacts of make up from the dorm and refreshing her look, which Esmerelda was happy to assist with. Jessica merely sat there rolling her eyes. Make up had never interested her much. She pretended to be reading her Charms textbook, but had snuck a surfing magazine in and was reading that instead.

Remus, as always, was buried in his studies. He too discouraged the torment of Severus by shooting stunning spells at the pillows Lily hadn't managed to reverse the path of.

"Accio Lily!" Sirius said.

Lily of course, did not budge, knowing that the charm only affected objects, not people.

"Accio Lily!" Sirius said louder this time.

Again, Lily didn't budge. Remus rolled his eyes, stood, and walked over to Sirius.

"You can't use Accio on Lily," he said, "You'd know that if you'd done the summer reading."

"Oh really? Wanna bet?" Sirius said, "Loser buys the winner a bottle of firewhiskey."

"That's an illegal substance Sirius! No way…" Remus said.

"Moony, come on, live a little!" Sirius said.

Remus rolled his eyes, 'Fine, since you'll be the one buying it."

"M'hm," Sirius said, "You watch."

Author's Note: Thanks Shortie552 for both your lovely reviews. However, no more chapters will be uploaded here (I may send them to Shortie if she wishes, no reason to drive her insane) until I get reviews from 5 different people. And that's that. pokes So review. It only takes a minute. Flames count, because frankly, I don't care if you don't like all this because I DO.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Little to Remus's knowledge, Lily had overhead the argument between the two boys, and was planning, of course, to help Sirius become the winner.

"ACCIO LILY!" he said, so loudly that other classmates began to look at him oddly.

Lily instantly popped out of her seat and spun once, twice, until she was in the reach of Sirius's well muscled arms. He wrapped them around her and nuzzled the side of her neck, burying his face in her sweet smelling hair again.

"See? Told ya, mate," Sirius said smiling deviously, "I'd like to have my firewhiskey by next Hogsmeade weekend if you don't mind."

Remus scowled, "Never bet with Blacks…they cheat," he muttered.

"Oh, no Moony. Blacks never cheat, their girlfriends eavesdrop," James butted in, "And I want some of that firewhiskey myself."

Lily decided to let the firewhiskey slide this time, mostly because deep down, she was anxious to try some herself. It also kept the boys talking, thus not sending pillows in Severus Snape's direction.

Once Professor Flitwick had declared that class was dismissed, the students slowly began to file out the door, Lily and Sirius hand in hand. When Lily stepped outside the door, a hand grabbed her arm and jerked her away from Sirius who had not been paying close attention and her hand slipped away from his. At that moment two other classroom doors opened and more students filled the hall way, pushing Sirius on toward the Great Hall for lunch.

"Lily!" he shouted over their heads.

"Siri!" Lily responded before the person's other hand clamped over her mouth.

"Listen here, mudblood," Severus Snape murmured, "I don't need you sticking up for me. I-"

"Right, you've got Luscius to do that for you," Lily spat, interrupting.

"Don't interrupt me," he said twisting her arm roughly, "I don't need you to stick up for me, and I know very well what you were doing the entire class. And I know that Remus is planning to buy you all a bottle of firewhiskey, and don't think I won't report it to the proper authorities, I'm sure Professor McGonagall would not be very pleased to hear that one of her house prefect's would let something so against the rules slide."

"Let go of me!" Lily shrieked, trying to pull her arm away from Severus, "And they're always making stupid bets like that, they never go through with them! And just think how stupid you'll look for false accusations. It'd probably land you in detention; you know McGonagall knows how much you dislike the Marauders!"

Severus responded to Lily's struggle by twisting her arm behind her back. A fierce pain shot up her arm.

"You may be right, but you're still a mudblood. I'll be watching you and your sweet Sirius very closely, love," Severus whispered into her ear, mimicking Sirius. Then he kissed her on the cheek and released her, scurrying off down the hall.

Lily cast Scourgify on the spot on her face which Severus had kissed and examined her arm, dark bruises turned her skin many brilliant colors. Once the hall had completely cleared, Sirius reappeared.

"What'd Snivellus want with you?" Sirius asked, walking over to her.

"Uh, nothing much," Lily said, moving the sleeve of her robes back over her arm to hide the imperfections, "Just that he'd report you to McGonagall for having firewhiskey, but don't worry, I got him off it…"

Sirius noticed Lily covering her arm, as though she were hiding something from him, he pulled back the sleeve and examined the bruises, "When did this happen?" he asked, "Did Severus do this to you?"

"No, no. I…I just ran into the wall this morning, turned a corner a little too quickly, is all," she said, knowing Sirius would inflict a million times worse pain on Severus had he known he'd done this to her.

"Lily, I don't believe that. You're not a clumsy person. Tell me, did Severus do this to you?" he asked again.

Lily sighed; she couldn't lie to Sirius, "Yes. But don't you do anything about it; it doesn't even hurt that badly," she lied.

Sirius sighed as well, "Whatever Lilz, let's just go get some lunch, I'm starved," he said taking her hand and leading her down the corridor to the Great Hall.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Lunch at Hogwarts was full of the usual hustle, bustle and chatter as it always had been. Lily ate lunch with the girls and the Marauders, who happened to be sitting next to each other and Jessica nearly had a cow whenever Remus ended up sitting next to her.

Lily sat next to Sirius, making casual conversation with him, as well as the others. But she noticed James staring at her longingly, as she often caught him doing. She didn't say anything; she only looked the other way.

Peter had rejoined them, finally getting out of the hospital wing in quite a state that morning, and Sirius and the others were teasing him mercilessly. Just then, a pretty Hufflepuff girl called Remus over to her table.

"If you'll all excuse me, I'll be back in a moment," he said.

Jessica sighed, "He's never going to notice me. He's probably scheduling a date or something with that girl, or maybe they're going out in secret, or mayb-"

Esmerelda rolled her eyes, "Jessica, chill. I know for a fact that he's helping her get through, her, her first time."

"Huh?" Jessica said, screwing up her face in a look of confusion.

"Her first transformation?" Brooke offered.

"Oh, right. The werewolf thing," Jessica said quietly.

"Yeah, she was out with her _boyfriend_ and she got lost in the Forbidden Forest. Took a nasty bite. So now, this evening she's doomed to the same fate as poor Remy," Esmerelda explained.

"B-b-boyfriend?" Jessica stuttered.

"Yes Jess," Brooke said, "Boy. Friend."

"Oh," she replied.

"Now, we just have to get him to notice you…" Brooke said, "Maybe shorten that skirt a bit, do something with your hair…" Brooke offered, pulling her wand from her robe pocket.

"No!" Jessica said, a little more loudly than she'd intended to, "I mean, no. Remus…he's not into girls like…like…"

"Like Brooke?" Esmerelda finished.

"Exactly," Jess responded.

"Jess, I've seen the way he looks at you, you just need to…open up to him a little. Tap into his interests," Esmerelda said.

"Well, how in the name of Merlin do I do that, exactly?" she asked, frustrated.

"Well, Remus is smart, right?" Lily said.

"Yeah…so?" Jessica answered.

"Well, ask him to tutor you!" Lily said.

"It's only the first day of classes, I haven't had a chance to screw up yet," Jess pointed out.

"Okay, so it's going to take awhile…and Jess, you've always been dreadful at Transfiguration," Lily said.

"Which is Remus's area of expertise, if I recall," Brooke added, winking and flashing a devious smile.

"Just wait a week or two, think you can do that?" Esmerelda asked.

"Sure," Jess said, "Plus that gives him some time to heal up from the full moon and the wolf thing…"

Sirius sat there the entire lunch period trying to figure out how to get at Severus for what he'd done to Lily. When he heard Jess say, "- the full moon and the wolf thing…" he knew exactly what he was going to do. He stood up, but before he could go off in pursuit of Severus, he was stopped by James.

"Where ya going, Padfoot?" he asked.

"Um…just to visit Narcissa and Bellatrix. Family business," he quickly lied.

"Oh, alright," James replied.

Sirius headed over to the Slytherin table and immediately picked over Snape, sitting with Luscius.

"Come to defend your girl, Black?" Luscius taunted.

"I guess you could say that. I saw what you did to her, you bastard," Sirius spat.

"My father is alive and well, Black," Severus jeered.

"You want to settle this? Winner gets Lily?" Sirius asked.

Luscius grinned mischievously. The day just got more, and more interesting as it went on.

"I don't want that filthy little mud blood!" Severus exclaimed.

"Don't call her that!" Sirius said raising his arm to punch Severus square in the jaw, but he lowered it when he saw the headmaster enter the hall, "And don't lie to me. _Snivellus_, I know you've had a crush on Lily since 4th year, almost as long as James."

Severus curled his lip into a snarl, "Fine then. Winner gets Lily, name your time and place."

"Tonight, 10 o' clock. There's a knot on the Whomping Willow, touch it and it freezes. It leads to the Shrieking Shack. Be there," Sirius glared as he stood and walked away, "Come alone. I'll be waiting."


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Note: Yes, I know this event occurred in the Marauder's 6th year, but I'm changing it more my uses, okay! Mostly because I'm too incredibly lazy to go back and edit Chapter 1. If it makes you feel better, pretend they're in their 6th year, okay?

Chapter 8

Later that night, Remus headed down to the Shrieking Shack, and James, Peter, and Sirius followed. The full moon was really hitting Remus hard, and despite the Wolfsbane potion, he was still sure this moon would be particularly painful, and that it would be very difficult for him to keep control of himself.

Sirius hadn't told the others of his challenge with Severus. He had pretty much forgotten about it, what with afternoon Slytherin-free classes being so enjoyable. Then he had Lily "study" with him. He was in fairly good spirits on his way to the Shrieking Shack, and he completely forgotten about Severus and his meeting.

The moon came up at about 8 o' clock that night. Remus sat, arms around his legs in the corner, bracing himself for what was to come. He didn't welcome it, nor embrace it, but it was something that had to happen. He cringed as he felt that churning in the pit of his stomach that often begun his transformation. He winced as his bones starting to rearrange themselves into the structure of the wolf, and as small hairs sprouted from his skin, as his fingernails grew into long claws.

James, Peter, and Sirius also had changed into their forms when they noticed Remus beginning to change. Then they saw someone slide down the passageway from the Whomping Willow.

Then Sirius remembered. Severus. Severus was here. Severus was here because of him. Severus was here. With a very wolfy Remus.

Remus, or more, Remus the wolf eyed the human who had entered his den. He snarled and slowly approached him. He sensed that human Remus had a strong hatred for this human. Why not off him now and make the most of it? He took slow steps toward him.

Severus, being the imbecile that he was shouted, "Black! Come out Black! Where are you hiding?"

This caused the wolf to pounce. He sprung forward off of his hind legs toward the greasy haired, hooked nosed person before him. He opened his jaws in anticipation of flesh, but instead, was tackled by a large, scruffy, black dog.

Severus shouted again, "Come out Black! You wouldn't just leave these animals here to make do of me!"

Once Sirius thought Prongs had the wolf occupied in the corner he transformed back into his human form. However, the wolf was not subdued. He wanted to play. He reached out for the scruffy black dog's leg, but instead met human flesh.

"Shit!" Sirius cursed.

"Black, what's going on, this is madness! Are we going to fight or not?" Severus said as James in stag form butted Remus in the rear, steering him back off in that direction.

"Fine Severus. You still want to go through with this, even though there's an angry werewolf right here, who's almost torn off my leg, that's fine. So be it. No wands. Only fists. Those are the terms. Stick to them or you automatically forfeit," Sirius said.

Severus ran forward, he got the first punch in. Sirius however responded by giving him to blows to his glass jaw, which only angered Severus more. As Severus tried to pummel Sirius, Remus took notice. He wasn't happy that someone was toying with his friend. He jumped forward onto Severus, knocking him to the ground.

Sirius immediately transformed back into the dog and tackled the werewolf, to keep him from gnawing on bits of Severus. Remus however, had lost interest in playing with Sirius and he returned to Severus. James decided to intervene as Peter scurried off into a rat hole to hide. James pushed Remus back into a corner and held him there with his massive antlers and gave Sirius a look that clearly said, "Go!"

Sirius converted back into his human form, and slung a bloody, whimpering Severus's arm over his shoulder. He then crawled back up the tunnel, and walked back toward the castle, and into the infirmary.

Madame Pomfrey was surprised to see a Gryfinndor helping a Slytherin, but when she noticed how badly the boys were bleeding, she immediately forgot that thought.

"Lay down you two!" she said, scurrying about fixing up various potions.

"Madame Pomfrey, I really don't need anything, except maybe a bandage, or something," Sirius said, I'll be fine. It's…it's Severus you need to take care of."

"Well, if you wish Mr. Black," she replied, and her long slender fingers quickly wrapped some gauze around Sirius's calf. She put a sticking charm on the end of it, as well as a timer so that he would know when it would be alright for him to take off, "you may go then. Unless you'd like to tell me how you and Mr. Snape sustained these injuries?"

"I'd really rather not…" he said.

"Very well then, off you go. But you might want to consider brushing that werewolf hair off of your robes. People might suspect something," she said.


End file.
